


He Ain't Heavy

by keelywolfe



Series: by any other name [38]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 23:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16796560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: Blue has his own opinions on his brother’s relationship with Edge. He mostly keeps them to himself. Mostly.Set much earlier than the current timeline, Stretch  and Edge haven’t been living together very long yet.





	He Ain't Heavy

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** Can I beg for forgiveness in advance? There are misunderstandings ahead and references to an assumption of domestic violence. Nothing explicit. And angst, of course there is angst. If you feel that this is too much for you, please know that it will have no affect on any plot points. Go back to a fluffy chapter and rejoice. 
> 
> **Note:** In a previous chapter, from Stretch’s POV: ‘Sneaking up on Edge could have unforeseen consequences; he’d learned that quickly... you could take the boy out of Underfell, but you couldn’t take the punchy out of the boy.’
> 
> So let’s explore that, shall we? From Blue’s POV.

* * *

Whenever Blue was in New New Home, he made a point to meet his brother at least once a week for lunch. His ability to do so varied wildly; he and the other diplomats were often off to different places, countries, meeting with heads of states to negotiate treaties, trade agreements, what have you. It was stressful work, but imminently rewarding, despite how often it took him away from his brother, Papyrus.

Not Stretch, not in his mind, though it wasn’t that Blue disliked the name. Nicknames were all well and good, and Blue had willingly given up his own name without a protest. But to him, in his quiet, hidden thoughts, his brother would always be the real Papyrus, just as he was the Magnificent Sans. Their universe might be lost, but it didn’t mean he and his brother were. Not to him.

It was closing in on the time for his brother to meet him for their lunch date and Blue knocked lightly on the front door, frowning impatiently as he waited a long moment with no reply. His brother was probably sleeping and cautiously turning the knob proved him right. Not ten steps from the door, his brother was curled up on the sofa, his back to the door and a blanket pulled up nearly to his chin. 

“Brother!” Blue said, raising his voice and Papyrus jumped with a gasp. He didn’t turn over, only curled tighter into the blanket. Exasperatedly, Blue added, “We’re supposed to be going to lunch, are you even dressed?”

“hey, bro,” Papyrus’s voice was unexpectedly hoarse. “don’t think i’m really up to lunch today, let’s make it up on saturday, okay?”

Blue frowned, his exasperation shifting to concern, “Are you feeling ill?”

“no, no,” the blanket rustled as he shook his head. “i’m just tired.”

Gently, Blue touched his shoulder, silently urging him to turn over, which his brother suspiciously resisted, “do you have a fever?”

“no, i told you…”

“Papyrus,” Blue said sharply, and he fell silent. “Let me see you.”

His brother sighed heavily, slowly rolling to his back, “listen, it’s not as bad as it looks.”

“By the angel!” Blue blurted out, horrified, “It looks awful!” The entire side of his face was bruised, the socket swollen. Upsettingly, it seemed to have been healed a little which meant at one point it had actually looked worse. “What _happened_?”

Papyrus laughed, a little too quickly, a little too high, and his lighter appeared between his fingers, flicking through them. “well, see, it’s funny—“

Blue knew those mannerisms all too well; his brother was winding up to tell him a lie but why would he lie about this unless—

“he hit you,” Blue said flatly.

Papyrus hunched a little, but he didn’t deny it. “bro—“

“I’ll kill him.” At that moment, all thoughts of LV and different universes were very far away, and he might have been nicknamed for the color of his magic, but the only thing Blue was seeing now was a vicious shade of red. 

“wait!” His brother shortcutted right in front of him, blocking the door. “listen to me, it was my fault!”

“Your fault?” Blue exclaimed. “Brother, I know you have some strange ideas about relationships, but it was _not_ your fault, it is never your fault if your significant other hurts you, and I am not about to allow this to continue, I…”

Papyrus was staring at him like he’d grown a second head, “are you even listening to yourself?” he sputtered out, “have you even met edge, fuck, blue! don’t you remember the time i tripped on the stairs and he almost dragged me to the hospital? or that time i fell out of the tree? he about had an aneurysm! you really think he’s beating me on the sly? that he’d hurt me on purpose? you know he’s not like that, come on, let me explain!”

Grudgingly, Blue nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, “quickly, please.”

If he hadn’t been so angry, the fleeting embarrassment that crossed his brother’s face would have been amusing. “so, uh, he was cooking something, and i thought it would be funny to sneak up on him and surprise him? well, let’s just say we both got a surprise out of it. i grabbed him and… guess he hasn’t forgotten any of his moves.” Papyrus grimaced and gestured vaguely at his poor face. A little defensively, he added, “it was stupid of me and you know it. anyone might have reacted the same way, even you. red would have probably taken out most of the kitchen with it.”

“He could have killed you,” Blue said, low. 

Papyrus gave him a lopsided smile. “lots of things can kill me.”

“That isn’t funny.”

“i know. look, i already had to deal with edge losing his shit over it. he wanted me to move out, he—" Papyrus swallowed hard and looked down, and of course he would be more upset about that than the colorful desecration of his damn face. 

_You should_ , Blue didn’t say. Much as he’d prefer his brother back safe in their home, it wouldn’t make him happy, and it was not the solution to this.

Papyrus laughed a little, weakly, “then he tried to drag me to the hospital, which, um, no, not a chance.”

“Why didn’t you go?” Blue demanded. If he had done anything like that, as Papyrus had suggested was a possibility – a ridiculous idea because he would never, ever hurt his own brother— he would have dragged him to the hospital if he had to tie him to the car. 

“because i didn’t want anyone to think exactly what you did,” Papyrus said tiredly. He started to rub his face agitatedly, wincing as he touched bruises. “monsters _like_ edge, they trust him in spite of his lv; he’s worked hard to earn that trust. do you really think people would believe it was an accident, even if i explained? people would change around him. you know they would.”

He did. Blue sighed. “Then you should have called me.”

He probably deserved the sour look Papyrus gave him. “yeah, bro, you were super calm and reasonable.”

“I was surprised,” Blue defended

“funny how people can overreact when they’re surprised,” his brother said meaningfully. 

“You’ve made your point. Come here and let me heal it, then.

Obediently, Papyrus crouched and let Blue lay a hand on the bruise. Up close it looked even worse, he was a little surprised the bone hadn’t cracked. His fingers glowed softly, warming as he pushed healing intent into his magic and Papyrus’s sigh of relief made a twist of pained regret go through Blue’s soul. It must’ve hurt something awful and his brother hadn’t called him for help because…well. He hadn’t been wrong about Blue’s reaction. 

His perfectly justified reaction, thank you. 

“thanks, bro,” Papyrus mumbled, trying not to move his jaw too much. “healing doesn’t work as well when it’s on yourself and edge is just plain shit at it.” The bruises were fading, and his brother’s smile widened beneath Blue’s light touch. “wanna hear something funny? not funny haha, just weird. bad as this looks, it didn’t touch my hp. the only thing i can figure is at the last second he saw it was me, too late the pull the punch but enough to drop the intent.”

That took an exceptional amount of control, more than he’d expected Edge was capable of. Blue tried not to think of how much intent had been behind it to begin with, tried not to wonder if he’d almost lost his brother over a silly prank.

“please don’t.”

It was only after he felt his brother’s thumb wipe beneath his socket that Blue realized he was crying. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the tears impatiently away. 

“I’m fine,” Blue shooed his brother back towards the sofa. “That took care of the worst of it, but you should get a little more sleep. Rest up, I’ll stop in tomorrow and finish it up.”

“my brother? encouraging me to sleep?” Papyrus said teasingly. “you sure you’re not the one with the concussion?” 

Blue gave him a tight smile. “Don’t get used to it.” 

His brother was already drowsing as soon as his head hit the pillow and Blue pressed a light kiss to his skull, planning to wait only long enough for Papyrus to fall asleep. His thoughts were already elsewhere, across town, where there was someone else he needed to see. 

Right now.

* * *

Janice was typing away on her computer when Blue came in, her smile blandly warm. 

“Good morning! I’m sorry, but Edge isn’t seeing anyone today,” she said politely. “I could make you an appointment for next week?”

“He’ll see me,” Blue said shortly and nothing else, only looking directly at her, waiting. He could see Janice wavering between her orders and his resolve, until finally she reluctantly tapped the intercom and told Edge in a low voice that he was waiting. 

Edge’s voice was tinny over the intercom, revealing nothing. “ _Let him in_.”

The urge to slam open the door was childishly difficult to resist but Blue managed, walking in stiffly, and there were a hundred things he wanted to say, a thousand, about self-control and discipline and by all the blessed angels, being careful around someone with low HP, things he wanted to say, to scream, all bubbling inside him, clamoring to be the first thing out of his mouth. 

And one look told him that Edge wasn’t going to stop him, no matter what he said. He’d walked around to the front of his desk, leaning back against it, and his eye lights were cast towards the floor, his hands loose and empty. Hunched into himself and waiting for whatever it was Blue had to say. He’d accept it all; Blue could scream his anger to the entire embassy and Edge wouldn’t lift a finger to stop him because Blue could never hate him as much as he hated himself for what had happened.

It was all right there in front of him and the sight drained the last of his anger, leaving him with nothing but overwhelming tiredness. Blue sighed wearily, rubbing at his sockets with his thumb and forefinger.

“I don’t want your apologies or your regrets or whatever you have,” Blue said at last, each word carefully chosen, “I only want one thing from you. Promise me you won’t leave my brother over this.”

For the second time that day Blue had to stifle inappropriate humor. The sight of Edge’s mouth dropping open like it was on a hinge sparked dark humor. He shut it quickly, visibly gathering himself. “That is not what I expected from you.”

“I assure you, it was not my first reaction,” Blue said dryly. “But my brother explained it was an accident.” He ended it with a questioning lilt and Edge winced.

“It was,” he said hoarsely, his hands clenching briefly before falling limply open again, “I would never…I wouldn’t…” 

“I know,” Blue nodded slowly. And the frustrating part was that it was true; he knew that Edge would never deliberately hurt his brother. 

Not deliberately.

“This is the second time you’ve hurt him. First emotionally and this time physically. There best not be a third.” It was all the warning Edge was going to get. 

“For whatever it’s worth, I promise.” The way he made a little cross over his chest with his finger, the same way Papyrus did, made Blue’s soul clench weakly. He wondered distantly if Edge was even aware he’d done it. 

It wasn’t good enough, but it would have to do. 

Blue liked Edge, he did, but he was not the Monster he would have chosen for his wonderful, kind, brilliant, _fragile_ brother. Not that anyone had offered him a choice in the matter and, truth be told, he didn’t want one. As his brother would say, he didn’t have a bone in this fight. 

But self-preservation had never been one of Papyrus’s many skills. One of them needed to be the sensible one and Blue had been the one to volunteer. 

“Why don’t I come over tomorrow evening for dinner?” Blue allowed it to be a question. 

“Of course,” Edge nodded. He took a long, slow breath, forcing out, “Is he…did you…”

“Did I heal him?” Blue asked deliberately, and Edge winced. He didn’t shy from Blue’s direct gaze, though, meeting it, and nodded. “Of course I did. He’ll be fine.”

He said it a little gentler than he’d meant, already disgruntled with himself for softening so easily towards Edge. It wasn’t in him to be angry for long, and especially not towards a Papyrus, no matter what universe they were from. 

“Thank you,” Edge said low.

“You don’t need to thank me for healing my own brother.” At least that managed to be sharp. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow,” Edge agreed, and Blue had no doubt the meal would be excellent. His brother would be wary at first, trying to act as a buffer between Blue and Edge, much the same way Blue had between the two of them when they’d first come to this universe. Ah, how the tables had turned, in ways Blue had never dreamed.

He wouldn’t be able to hold his resentment, Blue knew, even when faced with his brother’s lessened injury tomorrow. He’d soften, he’d forgive, and it would likely be a pleasant meal, with Papyrus forgetting eventually that he was supposed to be mediating and instead he’d be sending those soft looks at Edge, the ones that spoke of how very happy he truly was, how much he loved. Blue knew it was true, and for his brother, he’d forgive Edge for this. 

But he wasn’t about to forget.

-finis


End file.
